Ex 12:22-51; Lk 15; Job 30; 1Co 16

Surprise and joy in the finding, or revealing, of the elect.  
Luke 15
7 I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.
10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”
32 It was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost and is found.’”

1 Corinthians 16
13 Stay alert, stand firm in the faith, show courage, be strong. 14 Everything you do should be done in love.

Ex 11:1-12:21; Lk 14; Job 29; 1Co 15

Exo 12:26 — Exo 12:27

When your children ask you, ʻWhat does this ceremony mean to you?ʼ - then you will say, ʻIt is the sacrifice of the Lordʼs Passover, when he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck Egypt and delivered our households.ʼ” The people bowed down low to the ground,

Exodus 12:32

Also, take your flocks and your herds, just as you have requested, and leave. But bless me also.” 

Note: Pharaoh probably meant that they should bless him also when they were sacrificing to Yahweh in their religious festival—after all, he might reason, he did let them go (after divine judgment). To bless him would mean to invoke good gifts from God for him.

Luk 14:15 — Luk 14:18a

The Parable of the Great Banquet 

When one of those at the meal with Jesus heard this, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will feast in the kingdom of God!” But Jesus said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time for the banquet he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ʻCome, because everything is now ready.ʼ But one after another they all began to make excuses.

Ex 10; Lk 13; Job 28; 1Co 14

Exodus 10:1-2

The Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order to display these signs of mine before him, 2 and in order that in the hearing of your son and your grandson you may tell how I made fools of the Egyptians and about my signs that I displayed among them, so that you may know that I am the Lord.”

Luke 13:6-8

6 Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 So he said to the worker who tended the vineyard, ‘For three years now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue to deplete the soil?’ 8 But the worker answered him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year too, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it. 9 Then if it bears fruit next year, very well, but if not, you can cut it down.’”

Luke 13:23-25

23 Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” So he said to them, 24 “Exert every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord, let us in!’ But he will answer you, ‘I don’t know where you come from.’

Continues with the order that has been established: love, then gifts

1 Cor. 14:1 Pursue love and be eager for the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.

In a similar way, prophecy is more important (because it builds up the church rather than for the individual). 

1 Cor. 14:4 The one who speaks in a tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

Paul makes a somewhat facetious statement to make his point - maybe similar to saying "I wish you all could own a car, but I would prefer that you took the bus." 

Also, if tongues "looks like" prophecy (i.e., "unless he interprets") it is useful. 

1 Cor. 14:5 I wish you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be strengthened.

How to define prophecy? Revelation seems to back the Reformed understanding of it being the preaching of the Gospel.

Revelation 19:10 So I threw myself down at his feet to worship him, but he said, “Do not do this! I am only a fellow servant with you and your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

Ex 9; Lk 12; Job 27; 1Co 13

Egypt as object lesson.

Exodus 9:15-16

15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with plague, and you would have been destroyed from the earth. 16 But for this purpose I have caused you to stand: to show you my strength, and so that my name may be declared in all the earth. 

Luke 12:4-5

4 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom you should fear: Fear the one who, after the killing, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 

Similar admonitions to the above in vs. 8-9 and 10, followed by a remarkable promise and reason not to worry regarding what to say or how to make one's defense...
Luke 12:12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you must say.”

The rest of the chapter - be ready!
Luke 12:31 Instead, pursue his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
Luke 12:34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Luke 12:40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

In 1 Cor. 13 Paul explains the superiority and necessity of love in the body of Christ. Gifts are temporary. They will be completely done away with "when the perfect comes." (repeats this 3 times - v. 8 with explanation in v. 9; then examples in v. 11 and v. 12) Faith, hope and love, will remain - but love is superior, the undergirding, even, for faith and hope.

8 Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 10 but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. 

11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. 

12 For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. 

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Ex 8; Lk 11; Job 25-26; 1Co 12

Luke 11:1  Now Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he stopped, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Notes: It was not unusual for Jewish groups to have their own prayer as a way of expressing corporate identity. Judaism had the Eighteen Benedictions and apparently John the Baptist had a prayer for his disciples as well.
sn When you pray. What follows, although traditionally known as the Lord’s prayer, is really the disciples’ prayer. It represents how they are to approach God, by acknowledging his uniqueness and their need for his provision and protection.

Slightly shorter than we are used to... (NET version & notes)
Luke 11:2-4
2 So he said to them, “When you pray, say:
Father, may your name be honored;
may your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread,
4 and forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And do not lead us into temptation.”

With a poignant follow-up: 
Luke 11:5-8
5 Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 because a friend of mine has stopped here while on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7 Then he will reply from inside, ‘Do not bother me. The door is already shut, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though the man inside will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of the first man’s sheer persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
Note: The term ἀναίδεια (anaideia) is hard to translate. It refers to a combination of ideas, a boldness that persists over time, or “audacity,” which comes close. It most likely describes the one making the request, since the unit’s teaching is an exhortation about persistence in prayer. Some translate the term “shamelessness” which is the term’s normal meaning, and apply it to the neighbor as an illustration of God responding for the sake of his honor. But the original question was posed in terms of the first man who makes the request, not of the neighbor, so the teaching underscores the action of the one making the request.

Luke 11:9 “So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.

Note: The three present imperatives in this verse (Ask…seek…knock) are probably intended to call for a repeated or continual approach before God.

Luke 11:13 If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Note: The provision of the Holy Spirit is probably a reference to the wisdom and guidance supplied in response to repeated requests. Some apply it to the general provision of the Spirit, but this would seem to look only at one request in a context that speaks of repeated asking. The teaching as a whole stresses not that God gives everything his children want, but that God gives the good that they need. The parallel account in Matthew (7:11) refers to good things where Luke mentions the Holy Spirit.

Luke 11: 20 But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has already overtaken you.

Note:  The finger of God is a figurative reference to God’s power (L&N 76.3). This phrase was used of God’s activity during the Exodus (Exod 8:19 - in today's Exodus reading).
RE: "overtaken you" - The phrase ἔφθασεν ἐφ᾿ ὑμᾶς (ephthasen eph’ humas) is important. Does it mean merely “approach” (which would be reflected in a translation like “has come near to you”) or actually “come upon” (as in the translation given above, “has already overtaken you,” which has the added connotation of suddenness)? The issue here is like the one in 10:9 (see note there on the phrase “come on”). Is the arrival of the kingdom merely anticipated or already in process? Two factors favor arrival over anticipation here. First, the prepositional phrase “upon you” suggests arrival (Dan 4:24, 28 Theodotion). Second, the following illustration in vv. 21-23 looks at the healing as portraying Satan being overrun. So the presence of God’s authority has arrived. See also L&N 13.123 for the translation of φθάνω (phthanō) as “to happen to already, to come upon, to come upon already.”

Luke 11:34-36 
34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is diseased, your body is full of darkness. 35 Therefore see to it that the light in you is not darkness. 36 If then your whole body is full of light, with no part in the dark, it will be as full of light as when the light of a lamp shines on you.”
Note: RE - "diseased" - There may be a slight wordplay here, as this term can also mean “evil,” so the figure uses a term that points to the real meaning of being careful as to what one pays attention to or looks at. Ancient understanding of vision involved light coming into the body from outside, and “light” thus easily becomes a metaphor for teaching. As a “diseased” eye would hinder the passage of light, so in the metaphor Jesus’ teaching would be blocked from being internalized in the hearer.
RE: "Therefore see to it" - This is a present imperative, calling for a constant watch (L&N 24.32; ExSyn 721).

Paul is addressing their misuse and misunderstanding of gifts, and clarifies that God gives gifts, by grace, as he will. Is verse 31a said facetiously (or at least a setup for the punchline), with 31b the punch line? Chapter 13 brings resolution.

1 Cor. 12:11 It is one and the same Spirit, distributing as he decides to each person, who produces all these things.

1 Cor. 12:18 But as a matter of fact, God has placed each of the members in the body just as he decided.

1 Cor. 12:31 But you should be eager for the greater gifts. And now I will show you a way that is beyond comparison.

Ex 7; Lk 10; Job 24; 1Co 11

Exodus 7:7

Now Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh. 

Luke 10:20

Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names stand written in heaven.” 

Luke 10:36

Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

Note: Jesus reversed the question the expert in religious law asked in v. 29 to one of becoming a neighbor by loving. "Do not think about who they are, but who you are," was his reply.

1Co 10:32 — 1Co 11:1

Do not give offense to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also try to please everyone in all things. I do not seek my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved. ​ Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. 

Seems that 11:1 goes with the end of chapter 10?

Ex 6; Lk 9; Job 23; 1Co 10

Exodus 6:20 Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. (The length of Amram’s life was 137 years.)

After recounting the geneology, the following seems to be a recounting of the calling of Moses (and Aaron, after Moses' complaint)

Exodus 6:26-30

26 It was the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their regiments.” 27 They were the men who were speaking to Pharaoh king of Egypt, in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. It was the same Moses and Aaron. 28 When the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 he said to him, “I am the Lord. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I am telling you.” 30 But Moses said before the Lord, “Since I speak with difficulty, why should Pharaoh listen to me?”

Luke 9:6 Then they departed and went throughout the villages, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.

Note: This verse is similar to Luke 9:2, except for good news at this point. The change means that to “preach the kingdom” is to “preach the good news.” The ideas are interchangeable as summaries for the disciples’ message. They are combined in Luke 8:1.

Luke 9:24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it.

Note:  The point of the saying whoever wants to save his life will lose it is that if one comes to Jesus then rejection by many will certainly follow. If self-protection is a key motivation, then one will not respond to Jesus and will not be saved. One who is willing to risk rejection will respond and find true life.

1 Cor. 10:1-4

1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

1 Cor. 10:9 And let us not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes.

From Note: This text is also christologically significant, since the reading “Christ” makes an explicit claim to the preexistence of Christ. (The textual critic faces a similar dilemma in Jude 5.)

1 Cor. 10:14-15

14 So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I am speaking to thoughtful people. Consider what I say. 

Ex 4; Lk 7; Job 21; 1Co 8
Ex 5; Lk 8; Job 22; 1Co 9

Exo 5:22 — Exo 5:23

Moses returned to the Lord, and said, “Lord, why have you caused trouble for this people? Why did you ever send me? From the time I went to speak to Pharaoh in your name, he has caused trouble for this people, and you have certainly not rescued them!” 

vs

James 1:2-4 (NASB)
2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Job 21:8 — Job 21:15

Their children are firmly established 

in their presence,

their offspring before their eyes.

Their houses are safe and without fear;

and no rod of punishment from God is upon them.

Their bulls breed without fail;

their cows calve and do not miscarry.

They allow their children to run like a flock;

their little ones dance about.

They sing to the accompaniment of tambourine and harp,

and make merry to the sound of the flute.

They live out their years in prosperity

and go down to the grave in peace.

So they say to God, ʻTurn away from us!

We do not want to know your ways.

Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

What would we gain 

if we were to pray to him?ʼ

It all sounds so good - it is what we long for and it is only in the last verses that we see that this is actually the description of and conclusion of the wicked... Life is good, what do we gain by submitting to the Lord?

Luke 7:9

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him. He turned and said to the crowd that followed him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith!”

Why would anyone take offense? 

Luk 7:22 — Luk 7:23

So he answered them, “Go tell John what you have seen and heard: The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news proclaimed to them. Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” 

They were baptized and repented because they saw their need...

Luk 7:29 — Luk 7:30

(Now all the people who heard this, even the tax collectors, acknowledged Godʼs justice, because they had been baptized with Johnʼs baptism. However, the Pharisees and the experts in religious law rejected Godʼs purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.) 

Luk 8:7 — Luk 8:8

Other seed fell among the thorns, and they grew up with it and choked it. But other seed fell on good soil and grew, and it produced a hundred times as much grain.” As he said this, he called out, “The one who has ears to hear had better listen!” 

Luke 8:18

So listen carefully, for whoever has will be given more, but whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.” 

Luke 8:25

Then he said to them, “Where is your faith?” But they were afraid and amazed, saying to one another, “Who then is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him!” 

Luke 8:37

Then all the people of the Gerasenes and the surrounding region asked Jesus to leave them alone, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and left.

Note: Again there is great fear at God's activity, but there is a different reaction. Some people want nothing to do with God's presence. Mark 5:16 hints that economic reasons motivated their request.

Luk 8:45 — Luk 8:46

Then Jesus asked, “Who was it who touched me?” When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds are surrounding you and pressing against you!” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I know that power has gone out from me.”

This flies in the face of most evangelism training - what is the reward? To preach the gospel! If you do it out of obligation you lose...

1Co 9:17 — 1Co 9:18

For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward. But if I do it unwillingly, I am entrusted with a responsibility. What then is my reward? That when I preach the gospel I may offer the gospel free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights in the gospel. 

1Co 9:26 — 1Co 9:27

So I do not run uncertainly or box like one who hits only air. Instead I subdue my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified. 

Ex 3; Lk 6; Job 20; 1Co 7

Luke 6:11 But they were filled with mindless rage and began debating with one another what they would do to Jesus.

Luke 6:17-19 

17 Then he came down with them and stood on a level place. And a large number of his disciples had gathered along with a vast multitude from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon. They came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, 18 and those who suffered from unclean spirits were cured. 19 The whole crowd was trying to touch him, because power was coming out from him and healing them all.

Luke 6:22-23

22 “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject you as evil on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and jump for joy, because your reward is great in heaven. For their ancestors did the same things to the prophets.

Luke 6:27-30, 35-36

27 “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 To the person who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other as well, and from the person who takes away your coat, do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your possessions back from the person who takes them away.... 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to ungrateful and evil people. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Ex 2; Lk 5; Job 19; 1Co 6

Luke 5:17

Healing and Forgiving a Paralytic 

Now on one of those days, while he was teaching, there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting nearby (who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem), and the power of the Lord was with him to heal.

Right question, wrong conclusion... 

Luke 5:21

Then the experts in the law and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, “Who is this man who is uttering blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Luke 5:26

Then astonishment seized them all, and they glorified God. They were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen incredible things today.” 

Luke 5:39

No one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ʻThe old is good enough.ʼ” 

Note: sn The third illustration points out that those already satisfied with what they have will not seek the new (The old is good enough).

Job 19:25 As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that as the last he will stand upon the earth.

Note: tn re Redeemer - “my Vindicator.” The word is the active participle from גָּאַל (gaʾal, “to redeem, protect, vindicate”). The word is well-known in the OT because of its identification as the kinsman-redeemer (see the book of Ruth). This is the near kinsman who will pay off one’s debts, defend the family, avenge a killing, marry the widow of the deceased. The word “redeemer” evokes the wrong connotation for people familiar with the NT alone; a translation of “Vindicator” would capture the idea more. The concept might include the description of the mediator already introduced in Job 16:19, but surely here Job is thinking of God as his vindicator. The interesting point to be stressed here is that Job has said clearly that he sees no vindication in this life, that he is going to die. But he knows he will be vindicated, and even though he will die, his vindicator lives. The dilemma remains though: his distress lay in God’s hiding his face from him, and his vindication lay only in beholding God in peace.

Ex 1; Lk 4; Job 18; 1Co 5

Luke 4:18-19

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 

 because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

 He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives 

 and the regaining of sight to the blind,

 to set free those who are oppressed, 

 to proclaim the year of the Lordʼs favor.”

What, if any, is the connection to the Beatitudes? - https://www.studylight.org/commentary/luke/4-18.html

This seems to confirm the idea and the theme in Luke:

Luke 4:42-43 The next morning Jesus departed and went to a deserted place. Yet the crowds were seeking him, and they came to him and tried to keep him from leaving them. But Jesus said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, for that is what I was sent to do.”

Two responses:

Luke 4:15, 28-29 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by all.... When they heard this, all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, forced him out of the town, and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.

vs. 

Luke 4:32, 36-37 They were amazed at his teaching, because he spoke with authority.... They were all amazed and began to say to one another, “Whatʼs happening here? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” So the news about him spread into all areas of the region.

The movie, Ford v Ferrari - a perfect picture of making every effort (plus it's entertaining)

Luke 13:24

“Exert every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.

2Pe 1:5 — 2Pe 1:11

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith excellence, to excellence, knowledge; to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; to godliness, brotherly affection; to brotherly affection, unselfish love. For if these things are really yours and are continually increasing, they will keep you from becoming ineffective and unproductive in your pursuit of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately. But concerning the one who lacks such things - he is blind. That is to say, he is nearsighted, since he has forgotten about the cleansing of his past sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to be sure of your calling and election. For by doing this you will never stumble into sin. For thus an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be richly provided for you. 

It's been a while since I posted anything here, but maybe better that you come look occasionally than I send too many emails... 

M'Cheyne for today: Gen 48; Lk 1:39-80; Job 14; 1Co 2

Intricate Connections: A strange scene in which Jacob claims Joseph's children as his own and then blesses the "wrong" one. What stood out to me was Genesis 48:7 - I recalled Rachel weeping for her children in some other passages - a quick Google search connected the dots (this is a somewhat random Bible study software site, but the references seem solid - and you may want to check parts 1 and 2 as well) - https://www.accordancebible.com/Why-Is-Rachel-Weeping-At-Ramah-Part-3